links

Links to go along with my previous post:

Nerimon's channel: www.youtube.com/nerimon
Alex Day's Music: www.alexdaymusic.com

Stuff on target readers that I just googled: ready, aim, write
Another one of those, but with weird formatting: e-zine articles

something smells toasty... oh, that's me!

Hello there!

I thought that today I would share some writing advice with you, dearest blog. I know, how self-righteous am I, that I should share something with you? Well, I will anyways, because I'm defiant. Bahaha.

Imagine your ideal reader.

I know that a lot of people say this, or maybe they don't, but either way I've heard it before. You can be sure that I'm being far from original.

I've just been watching Nerimon's channel on youtube in which he has videos where he reads Twilight and critiques it. Basically, he voices the thoughts of every single non-preteen as they read it. Sorry, maybe you like Twilight. Then again, maybe you have no big toe on your left foot. I wouldn't know.

His comments, like his videos, are witty, clever, and in a delicious British accent. Yeah, I'm creepy, sorry.

Anyways, I currently have a story stuck in my head (or, at least, a few characters. No plot. Lovely) and now I can't stop wondering what Nerimon (AKA Alex Day) would think about it. You may not have guessed it (ha-ha), but I'm extremely awkward in public, and therefore intimidated by witty, clever, British people.

DON'T BE INTIMIDATED BY YOUR IMAGINARY AUDIENCE!

If your imaginary reader scares you, looks down on you, or likes to throw sharp things in your direction, then they are a bad friend. I know it can be hard to report someone you love, but you need to accept this. If your potential reader intimidates you, your writing will intimidate you because rather than just expressing yourself, you'll be wondering what they'd think and say.

Or maybe you could just go out and get a backbone, some guts, and care less what people have to say about your work.

Your choice.

Erika

it's been a hard day's night

I just wanted to take a second to introduce you to something dear to me... My mom's mullet. When she puts her hair in a pony tail and leans back against the couch, she looks like quite the hair band rocker.

Because I'm such a procrastinator, I'm also going to introduce you to Harry, the Suck Monster. He is furry, and angry (but really just misunderstood), and he loves to latch on to my writing and make it SUCK. He's been with me for my whole life, but has never been personified.

Ophie is my second to last fiendish (imaginary, to some extent) friend to tell you about. She is my personification of writer's block. That, and a giant wall... Writer's wall...

Wow, this a great waste of time. So, last but not least we have the great, magnificent, enigmatic... MILK! Thanks to Seventh Sanctum's mascot generator, I now have a mascot. "Milk the doormouse - the flirty, white-colored knight." Excellent.

I've also spent the past hour and a bit watching A Hard Day's Night, the Beatles' amazingly wonderful movie. Now I'm watching 'The Beatles On Record' on television. This is great. Everything else in this post I can pretty much sum up as a colossal waste of time, but not this :)

And so I leave you with a picture to warm your heart, stir your soul, make you wish you were born fifty years ago...

friendly sites

A: Gosh, I'm getting awful bored of gum/drop/smile, but I'm too lazy to search far and wide across the internet myself for something fun or interesting to look at!

B: Yes, the internet is a dreadfully scary place, and one could easily get lost out there!

C: I don't have anything to say, but Erika wanted to use the letters A, B, and C just so that people would understand that this is an alphabet thing, not a reference to real people!

Erika: Never fear, my young friends! My blog now features a brand new side-panel, "friendly sites". Check out a few of my favorite ways to waste time, and have fun. Yay.

feeling a little unhinged

Well, '09 has certainly been the year of the short, random post, often thought up while half asleep. It has also been the year of the long hiatuses followed by spastic times of constant posts, several times a day. Hmm, it's good to know that I've evolved.

Anyways, today is, so far, exciting! I spent the night at my mom's house for the first time ever (considering even though it's titled my mom's house no one really lives there full time as of yet), and visited the house I'm currently house-sitting and hung out with their two cats for a while.

What's so exciting about that, you may ask? Well, nothing, actually. To add insult to injury, my Winter Break is quickly coming to a close and I still have a lot of homework to finish. Lovely. Oh, and did I mention that I'm feeling quite sick right now?

Wow, I really, really suck at this! Okay, without further ado, the exciting news:

I just sent off my entry to the Young Writers Contest courtesy of PenWriters. Now it's floating somewhere in a Penticton in-box, waiting to be judged and hopefully loved. I'm very anxious, but also extremely excited (can you tell?) and happy considering I've actually pulled together and finished something before the deadline! I'm coasting on the same kind of accomplishment-high as I was when I finally completed my CBC Literary Awards entry. Winning would be spectacularly amazing, but really just entering has me very happy :)

On top of all of that, I have oodles of newly downloaded music on my iTunes! It's all happy and lovely and folk-y pop, the new direction I'm gravitating towards... Ah, third generation hippies.

Love and excitement,
Erika

I love you because you came out of your mum.

Community channel ftw!

Sorry, just wanted to post this before I forget.

today's letter, tomorrow's noun

Stealing this idea from my friend. Plagiarism is the root of all that is good. Also, don't take my word for anything. Anything.

Today's letter is: A!

Animal, aardvark, Arthur, adventure, account, Alphagetti, apple juice, Amsterdam, anytime, anywhere, anyone.

Have an Absolutely Amazing day.

Erika

I'll follow you

AHHHHHHHHHH! AHMGGGGJI!!!!!!

Yes, three posts in one day, I realize that I must be a little desperate. Well, guess what? I am. The reason for this third, slightly manic post, however? I have two followers. TWO FOLLOWERS!!!

I am so happy and very enthused, as I hope comes across clearly with all of the exclamation marks and capital letters... It makes me feel like I'm yelling on the inside.

Anyways, I just wanted to take a moment to deeply, genuinely, wholeheartedly thank my two followers, neither of which I actually know (which makes it that much cooler). Of course, now I feel a little bit weird considering all this time I thought I was only writing for myself, and basically to hear (read?) the sound of my own voice. This is even better! Of course, I'll continue being ridiculously sentimental, pretty damn random, and a whole lot of crazy. Once again, I try.

death by mittens

Egad! I completely and utterly forgot to tell you something! HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Not only was yesterday Christmas Day, but today is the start of Kwanzaa. Wow, just totally overused the word and suffix 'day' there, sorry. Anywho, I had a lovely time, and received several excellent presents including buckets of books, and long-board. Yes, yes, yes, excellent. By the way, mon frere and I have finally decided on a decent cat name--decent in our minds, anyways.

Mister D. B. Mittens.

The irony comes in that we're only using it if we have a female cat, and DB actually stands for Death By. Yeah, we try.

keep on keepin' on

Black out your electric company. There you have it, the title for my Penwriters short story entry! Well, not exactly.

I need to choose between one of the other, "Black Out" or "The Electric Company". Both have bad connotations, and a lot of baggage to go along with them (ex: either Britney Spears' new album--great--or a PBS Kids television show--not bad, per say, but plagiarizing?--). At the same time, both of them could transform my original idea into something new and different. Ideas?

It's genuinely hard for me to choose. I know, after all, that it's a little pathetic that I'm not seriously getting down to work until now, December 26th, five days (but realistically four) before the absolute deadline.

Winning this contest and being accepted to the Penticton 2010 Summer Writing Camp would really be a dream come true. Actually, being a writer would be a dream come true. I know, I know, here I am gushing about my aspirations rather than working on my entry, but this really helps me process what I'm doing. Sometimes I like to do an extensive outline, other times I just like to dive in. I don't have a main mode of working or something that I usually do, I'm just trying to be me.

Ahh! So much gushing! Even if I had punctured an artery I wouldn't be this bad! Sorry, sorry, sorry to the anyone and everyone (yeah, right) reading this. Some days I just need to get it out there into the world.

Yeah, something like that. Hang in there.
Erika

universal face.

Oh. My. God.

I just realized that I have this website posted on my Facebook profile as my website. Now, it's probably safe to say that no one really checks out my Facebook profile, yet I'm slightly alarmed. What might the ever growing universe of Facebook think of my humble little blog? What might my blog say if it knew I was calling it both "humble" and "little"? Enough about that. Obviously they're not going to like my picture, so why should they like my blog? Stupid universe.

Amazing universe.

winter in the shark tank

Well, today, in case you didn't know, is the Winter Solstice, so how could I not post? The longest night of the year has only really started, and already I have a few things plaguing my mind.

1. A few weeks ago, I was asked to house sit for one of my neighbors. Not really thinking about it, I said yes, figuring it would be a good way to make a little money and get out of the house. Then I completely forgot about it, didn't go to their house to get my instructions (although I have house sat for them in the past). Today I let both of their cats outside, as per the note they left behind, and went to my cello recital. After I got back it had been 2 or 3 hours, so I decided to let them back in. The only problem? I can't find one of the cats. And it's freezing outside. Shit!
   
2. I had my very-first-ever-of-my-entire-life cello recital today! I played Away In A Manger as a solo, and then Patapan and Huron Carol on trumpet in a group, along with Silent Night, this time on cello. Confused yet? The worst part, besides my very out of tune B flat, the floor was slippery so my cello stand kept sliding across the floor, while I was trying to play. Ugh.
   
3. One more writing site for your perusal, Query Shark, a blog where Janet Reid, a highly opinionated agent who clearly knows her stuff, reads, edits, and reviews query letters sent in by readers. It's brutally honest, very informative, and hopefully leads to some success stories! Suffice it to say (oh my gosh, alliteration) I've become slightly addicted to it.
4. Happy Winter Solstice! Not only is tonight the longest night and shortest day of the entire year, but it's also the first day of Winter. Pretty hard to believe, considering how cold it's been, at least where I live! That, and a lot of cultures celebrate the New Year on either the Winter Solstice or Spring Equinox. Good idea!

Today is a sad way, in many ways. I love the Winter, don't get me wrong, and I love the Solstice, but it always makes me sad in the after today, the nights are going to start getting shorter... How is your Winter going--as of, say, 12:01 am this morning?

I'm pretty happy, actually. I've got a new story idea, and I've decided that this story I am writing one hundred percent for my own enjoyment. I will not think about it ever being published, winning any awards, or making me famous. No, I will not, and if I do then I will be forced to eat my own hands off. Interesting solution...

I hope your Winter goes well. I'm currently watching The National on CBC with the Top 9 of '09. The best part? I love Peter Mansbridge, and his sad lack of a chair. We should get him one for Christmas.

Sites for Writers

Hello today,

I was just wasting my day away, trying to get out of practicing for my cello recital Monday (exciting!) or any actual writing, and found myself on Google, looking up "helpful writing sites". By doing this, I discovered that there are very few resources out there on the web. No, that's obviously a lie, what I mean to say is that there are very few resources in one location on the web. Thus, it has fallen to me to create a veritable coffee shop for all those amazing writers' sites to hang out, mingle, and get to know each other at.

Unfortunately, I don't know of every helpful site, and so if you can think of any others, please let me know! I'm going to try my best to include something for everyone, so let's just see how this goes, shall we?

• Google.com - Just as a basic starter, Google is the absolute best possible resource for looking up virtually anything, anyone, or anywhere, and finding whatever you need!
• NaNoWriMo.org - A challenge posed to anyone crazy enough to try to write 50,000 words in the month of November. Even outside of November, though, this site provides a helpful and creative atmosphere with innovative forums to answer just about every question you could possibly think of (and if not, ask yourself!), plus a page for your location and writer's profiles so you can check out who else is out there, communicate, and more.
  
• Inkygirl.com - Inky Girl covers just about every topic possible--a twitter guide for writers, challenges, games and more--and tons of hilarious, insightful comics.
• WillWriteForChocolate.com - Another site created by Debbie Ohi (along with InkyGirl). This one contains more clever, funny comics with a whole new cast of true-to-life (if a little exaggerated) characters, centered around Eliza, the potential novelist who proves that the best tool in a writer's repertoire truly is chocolate. (Uh, I mean, creativity).
• SeventhSanctum.com - The absolute best site for writing prompts, random names, and various generators that will spit out just about anything in any category.
  
• Mail.Google.com - I've found that Gmail seems to work better than hotmail, or yahoo, or most other email sites. It's easy to organize your mail, you can add specific details to your contacts, and even chat using unique emoticons. And words, of course.

That's all for today, mostly because I'm tired and running out of sites to list. I think I'll go away for a little while, crawl back into my cave, and do some research then come back with a whole new list to blow your brains out! After this, I'll probably compile a list of handy-dandy websites, without my mindless chatter and descriptions, so that you can get straight to the good stuff. You know, other people's sites.

Wishing you the happiest of holiday seasons,
Erika

song: Veni Vidi Vici by the Black Lips <3

Being close, or being far away.

we've got a problem.

MAE! That is the name of my FMC in my Penticton Writing Contest short story entry. "FMC" stands for Female Main Character, in case you didn't know. All of these acronyms, they can get to you.

She is fascinated by the galaxies, planets, and stars out there that her generation never got the chance to see. Anyways, I have the first few paragraphs written, very rough drafts, of course. I came up with the idea, as I always do, half asleep lying on my bed, far too tired to want to drag myself out of bed and write anything down, but also far too desperate to ignore the impulse.

Oh, and want to know something else? The world is ending.

It makes me think about the world around me, and the fact that the world really is coming to an end. Ever think about that? I did, last night. It made my heart hurt. Ever get that feeling, in the pit of your stomach, when you want something so bad that you feel sick just thinking about how you might not be able to get it.

Errday.

Peace on Earth,
Erika

insane in the membrane

NOTHING SHOULD BE THIS HARD!

Writing is frying my brain cells, it is sucking out my soul, it is breaking my heart. Didn't I have a talent for this, at one point? Maybe I was young--perhaps, way back when none of my classmates knew their alphabets... A, B, C... What comes next?

Not only can I not think of any idea, but even characters and settings are proving to be impossible. My life is piling up like flies in a spider web, and unfortunately none of those flies are quite what I'm looking for.

Honestly, writing a short story and being admitted to a writing camp... That's really how I've always wanted my life to go! I could have a great time--or a not so great time. Whatever. The point is, I'll be writing. That's the only thing I can't live without, can imagine myself doing for a living, am proud of. Wait a second, the first two aren't quite right, but the third is. No matter what happens, if I can finish a story I'd be more than happy to share it with you, the world, as well as my teachers and friends (for editing purposes, of course).

Boys are rescued in snow storms, girls get 100+ % on their English tests, anything is possible these days. Maybe at some point I'll actually finish a story for once. Oh, for the love of writing!

love,
Erika

no power in silence

Today I read a poem. I know what you're thinking (or maybe not...): A poetry reading--for serious? No, in fact, I was not reading a poem of my own, and I was not nearly as elegant or intellectual as the title evokes.

Today, December 6th, 2009, is the twentieth anniversary of the 'Montreal Massacre'. Fourteen women were killed at Ecole Polytechnique by Mark Lepine, simply because they were women, and labeled as Feminists. I consider myself to be something of a feminist, and I find this whole idea of violence against women appalling. I know, especially after tonight, that it's a major problem in our world today. The part that I find appalling, is that it exists at all.

There were six speakers, including two women representing various First Nations organizations, our local MLA and MP, and a woman who had been attacked herself. Then a candle light vigil took place, in which fourteen people placed a rose on the table, read aloud the name of one of the fourteen women, and lit a candle, followed by a moment of silence. I read my poem, far too hurriedly, and finally we watched a brief slide show.

The whole event has left me with a feeling of tension, activism, weakness and strength all at once. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go do some homework, and think about where I was twenty years ago today. Sure, I wasn't technically alive yet, or was I? I still feel deeply affected by it, and all other acts of violence against women, men, animals, people, nations, the environment... We really are a species that likes to hurt.

Love,
Erika

long time no google

Today, just now, in fact, I googled myself, and for the first time ever, three sites came up that were actually about ME! Including this, by the way, which inspired my less-than-timely post. So, dear blogoverse, if you're ever in the neighborhood, check me out. Bahaha.

These past few days, weeks, months have been busy. I fail dreadfully at NaNoWriMo with a miserable 18k or so words. I've been obsessed with Margaret Atwood of late, and have read the Blind Assassin, Oryx and Crake, and am working on Lady Oracle. Thursday morning, I sent a letter to Margaret Atwood--the typical, you're amazing, I am not worthy! kind of thing--just because I'd like to know.

I've also recently discovered the amazing wonderful-ness of MLIA, or My Life Is Average, which has inspired me to dress up as Hermione Granger and wander around town, just for the sake of wandering. Deviant Art has been a major source of inspiration, as well, especially Auriethepixie, whose photography amazes the hell out of me.

Any fellow young writers in British Columbia, should check this out! Deadline for the contest is December 31st (either 5 poems, or a max. 5 page short story), and I'm currently scrambling to come up with something half-way-decent. Hope I get in--it looks absolutely phenomenal! Cross your fingers for me,

Love,
Erika

wild thing, you make my heart sing

Last night I saw "Where the Wild Things Are". A movie review, how quaint! Allow me to describe for your the sheer fantasticality that I witnessed in the span of just under two hours.

To be honest, "Where the Wild Things Are" was never really one of my favorite books growing up. I know it touched quite a few people in its day, but I was more of a Berenstein Bears kind of girl. Despite this, the movie was superb (a word my Planning teacher likes to use a lot, scrawled out at the corner of my poster assignments. Used to much it has been reduced to a level of redundancy. What does it mean now? Alright. You did alright). It was beautifully filmed, and entirely true to life. I think everyone watching could relate to it. Max lied--why did he lie? You know why. If you were he, you would've lied too.

The beginning showed stunning reality with graphic shots of the little boy's face crumpling as tears spilled down his cheeks. Cue confrontation, and then the monsters. The Wild Things themselves were genius. I was particularly pleased and surprised at how real they were, and how wild. They weren't just a bunch of big, hairy, hug machines. They genuinely wanted to eat him. There were several tenuous, almost scary moments where their wildness really came out. Where you weren't sure if everyone would live to the next dirt clod war or not. More or less, they were people, and had issues just like the rest of us. They, of course, could rip off each others arms...

Over all a beautiful movie. And that's all I have to say.

stuff we missed

NO! This is not the end! This blog will not die! I refuse.

Life is busy, as life almost always is. A few exciting things that have gone on recently include:

• We Day 2009 --so jealous of anyone who made it there! The Dalai Lama, K'naan, Jesse West, are you kidding me?!
• Charlieissocoollike -- Okay, so not really an even, but still extremely awesome. Check out his youtube channel by the same way. Like, cool.
• ARROW Magazine --Haven't heard of it? Yeah, you and the rest of the world. That will change, however! It's a school magazine some of my friends and I have started. Check us out in blog form. I linked the "us". Hell yes.
• Nanowrimo -- Hasn't actually started yet (and won't until November first), but man have I done extensive PREP! All basically pointless, but definitely fun. Considering writing a kind of nuvo-Nancy-Drew mystery, after shooting down two other smancy ideas.
• Thanksgiving! --it's today and tomorrow (tomorrow for me, being the day of turkey dinner, oh how I've missed you!) so roll up your sleeves and channel some THANKS!

Take a deep breath, you guys. More posts to come very very soon. You see those leaves on the trees? Stained fiery reds and yellows, burning like the sun, lame metaphors and all. It's October, and it's going to rock.

Love,
Erika

lists

art things to remember:

Music saved me from sports
Your kung-fu is shit
Deviantart password
mourning-november

things to look up:

Only four seasons
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
city of glass
nouvelle vague
Joseph D'Anvers
the last Olympian
unvollendete
the hunger games
I thought I had died - the War
Canadian Parents For French

things to make:

spaghetti with eggplant, zuchini, and meat tomato sauce, plus eat it with chopsticks
cinnamon pancakes to be layered with blueberry sauce, whipped cream, and sprinkled cinnamon before serving

things to do:

pick paint for my room
paint my room
decide on cat name
get a cat
find furniture
go to the dump
fix up 'studio'
divide books in half
move out
swim loads
look into Quebec exchanged
write my arrow stuff
work on chasing julian
edit April's character
come up with six good characters

chapter one

Chapter One:

In which we find our young heroine enjoying her first almost full day in the big city, and not wasting a moment of it.

I'm very much so to make this statement true. I will make the most of my time in Prague, and I will live it up to the best of my ability, especially since I don't know when I'll be here next. Three years, at the least, I'd say. I'll see you then, dearest Praha. From the Charles Bridge to the Old Town, to Katka's apartment, to everything else. Show me everything you've got.

End chapter one. Stop.

my sky, your storm

FLASH before my eyes
my life, your lightning.
my love, it's frightening.

do you want a picture, or a cookie?

I thought I should give anyone who sees this a nice little visual reward. Aren't we all just caught up in our different ribbons. Would you prefer a picture, or a cookie? Good dog.

all my czech

I've been reading Jane Austen, whose writing is making my own dreadfully formal and proper. It's a shame, really, as I much preferred the old, casual, bad English that I used to practice. English is one thing, but Czech is a whole other (see that smooth transition? Now that is quality)!

The Czech words I know, a list by Erika Loggin

Ahoj - hello
Dobry den - good day
Mam se dobre - I'm good
Ja taky - me too
Jahoda - strawberry
Zmrzlina - ice cream
Tak - so
Tady - here
Jsem - I am
To je - it is
To neni - it isn't
Pravda - true
Legrace - funny
Bezva - very good
Zmatek - a mess
Nahoda - a coincidence
V poradku - Okay
V - in
S - with
Maslo - butter
Chleba - bread
Houska - bun
Syr - cheese
Caj - tea
Kava - coffee
Krava - cow
Pes - dog
Nebo - or
Ale - but
Nevin - I don't know
Nerozumim - I don't understand
Rozumim - I understand
Cesky - Czech
Anglicky - English

I think there might be a few more, but without the use of accents hardly anything is understandable anyways. I should wear a big sign on my back saying "PLEASE DO NOT ENGAGE IN CONVERSATION". Psh, as if I could learn how to say that.

lonely cowboy

Lonely cowboy,
I wonder who will make a statue of you?
An ex girlfriend, perhaps
still enchanted by your Southern drawl.
It doesn't really matter, anyways,
you'd just end up in a park somewhere,
collecting moss and pigeon shit for the rest of your days.
It's no kind of life for your sort,
you who should be out wrangling and lassoing,
doing whatever else cowboys do.
But after all of your wild adventures
will your memories make you
any less lonely?

high time for tea time

It was that time of year again, Mrs Green Tea noted. The nights were getting longer, and the days were getting colder. Just the type of weather that made people want to huddle up indoors with a nice, steaming cup of tea. She braced herself against the wind. It could chill you to the bone if you didn't dress properly. Yes, Mrs Green Tea thought, it was definitely time to have a talk with her children.

The three tea children were very different. Earl Grey, the oldest, was hardly a child at all. She always wore sensible clothing, and kept her hair pinned up in a bun. Mrs Green Tea smiled warmly as her daughter opened the door for her, closing the door quickly after her to keep the heat in, and promptly returning to the stove to prepare dinner. She was always very mature, and was generally liked most by those who were like her.

Rooibos was the youngest. He was sweet, and funny, and liked by almost everyone--particularly those who didn't really appreciate his often bitter sister, or earthy mother. He whizzed down the stairs, calling a quick hello to his Mama and stealing a bite of the dessert, before whizzing back up. He was always at his best after a little cream and sugar, Mrs Green Tea thought, smiling and remembering how alike Rooibos and his cousin Chai were.

Then there was her middle child--Fruit Tea. He was sitting at the table, doing his homework, dressed in a bright purple shirt. Fruit Tea definitely had a hard time in life. His friends differed a lot, from little kids who didn't particularly care for the rest of the Tea family, to old ladies who liked to have him over on Sunday afternoon. It was especially difficult for him to find friends his own age since he had come out of the closet earlier that year, and a lot of teenagers weren't very accepting. He looked up and smiled when his mother entered the room, then returned to his homework while Rooibos zoomed in the door and started setting the table like Earl Grey had asked him to hours ago, according to her.

Mrs Green Tea put away the groceries she had been out shopping for, and took her place at the head of the table. Earl Grey waited until everyone was seated, and started loading everyone's plates with sensible portions, that allowed for them to have more if they so chose. She was very smart like that. Yes, Mrs Green Tea thought, her children certainly were unique individuals. She was happy to see that they were all doing well, especially after a messy divorce with their father, and her husband Coffee a few years ago. They just weren't right for each other.

"Enjoy," Earl Grey said quietly, sitting down and taking a small bite out of one of her scones. That's what the Tea family ate for every meal--scones, biscuits, cookies, miniature sandwiches and cakes, the usual. Mrs Green Tea smiled again and spread some jam on her scone. She would save her talk for later that night.

why I shouldn't be allowed to watch romance movies

If you don't know me, you should know this. Even if you do know me, but you don't know this about me, then you can pretty much assume that you don't really know me. What is this? I love romance movies. I'm sure that sounds lame, and girlly, but it's true.

I like everything from Bridget Jones Diary, to Love Actually (that's a bad example, though, as both are kind of similar). Anything with Hugh Grant is generally good too. I'm a sucker for a good love story. The Bronte sisters are the best, not to mention Jane Austin. Pride and Prejudice has to be among my favorite movies. This brings me to my topic, why I shouldn't be allowed to watch romance movies.

Last night I couldn't get to sleep, so at around 11:00 pm I decided to watch a movie. Not just any movie, either. Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austin. Hugh Grant, in an entirely unlikely role, the woman from the Titanic, and Snape--what could be better? By the middle of the movie, it was a little predictable as to what would happen next, although there were a few twists. I loved Willoughby, and I was convinced that he and Marianne were made for each other. It was not to be so. I don't want to spoil the story for anyone, but I'm going to anyways, under the excuse of venting.

Apparently John Willoughby is the villain of the story, or so says Wikipedia (I needed to look up the spelling!). This is just plain unfair. After he left Marianne with hardly any notice for London, he married a wealthy woman for reasons which I don't feel like explaining at the moment. They met at a party in London after he had been away for some time and Marianne had been miserable, and he was very cold and unemotional. Basically, he was a jerk--but not all the time! When they were together at the beginning, and in love, he was very witty and charming. The sad, heart-wrenching ending?

At Marianne's wedding, at the end of the movie to Colonel Brandon, there was someone watching from the hill. Sitting on his horse on the hilltop over looking the wedding was Willoughby. Then he turned and rode off. Very sad. He still liked Marianne, but she was getting married to the wrong, older man, and he was married to that rich chick! That's basically the least poetic way possible to explain it, but it's all I've got.

Basically, watching that movie was like having someone cut open my chest, grab my heart with their bare hands (which would make all sorts of gross squelching noises; sorry, that's just what I thought of), threw it on the floor, stomped on it repeatedly, and then left it to die. Dramatic? That's what happens almost every time I read a love story, or watch a romance movie, and that is why I shouldn't be allowed to watch romance movies. Still, I love them, and I'm probably going to watch Sense and Sensibility again today, just to torture myself and Mr Willoughby a little bit more.

Love (is the ANSWER)

Erika

my major problem

Let's face it, if you know me, or even if you don't, you should understand that I have a lot of problems. Don't take that the wrong way--I'm not institutionalized or anything. I guess I'm human. A particularly flawed human.

I could devote an entire blog to listing them, which isn't a bad idea (remember that, haters, I expect you to keep on top of things!). The major problem that I'm going to talk about in this post, however, is simple. I automatically assume that all hot guys are connected.

It sounds silly, doesn't it? Reading it there, you probably don't get it. I doubt I would. Allow me to explain. Whenever I see multiple hot guys at one time, right away I think that they must know each other. Waiting for the bus a few days ago, I saw two guys that fit this category of good-looking-ness. One was crossing the street, and the other was walking down the street with his little brother. Right away, I thought they knew each other, and must be friends. Wow, I'm scary.

I don't even know why I decided to blog about this, but I figured you had a right to know. I'm watching a Michael Jackson tribute on TV. I guess you could call him good looking, if you wanted, in his own way :P

I DO NOT NEED MEDICATION.

Erika

milk

Hey,

Welcome to gum/drop/smile! I'm trying to start a blog for all of my stories, poems, over all random writing type stuff. Maybe this could be that blog; I hope so.

So, I don't know where or who you are, but maybe you'd like to know a little about me. My name is Erika, and I'm currently coming to you from Liberec in the Czech Republic. I'm on vacation visiting my mom's family, and yes, I am going to constantly milk my location for all the culture, pictures, and references that I can. That's where the title comes from, by the way.

Your mom drinks Czech milk (it's better than North American, and she knows it).
Erika